Cross Country
Anna Strickland
Anna Strickland
The Hillgrove High School Cross Country team has many exceptional runners and a very impressive record. The team was started in 2006 and had about 25 runners the first year. This season, the team consists of about 72 runners, ranging from freshman to seniors. This season is Jonathan Gambrell’s 5th year as the head coach at Hillgrove. The Talon caught up with a few of the team’s outstanding runners to find out more about what it is like to be a part of the team. Their years of experience range from around four to six years.
Rachael Beno, sophomore runner, started running because, “I knew that it was sport where you work hard and you get a lot of satisfaction from working hard, and I wanted to get that feeling of satisfaction.” She continues running because, “it lets you think about anything you want and it is totally freeing. When you run you can let all of your emotions go and it’s really good for you.” She said, “cross country and running is really hard because it doesn’t only take physical strength, but it also takes a lot of mental strength. I definitely think that it’s worth the effort though.” Her strength in running is “definitely stamina because before cross country I raced half marathons. Running those half marathons built up my stamina. This is my first year on the cross country team, but I ran 5K’s for soccer before this.”
Bailey DeFoor, sophomore runner, continues running because, “I now feel the need to run . I get home from school and if I haven’t run I usually go run because I love how it feels after a good run and it’s also a good stress reliever.” When asked if she has trouble balancing school and running, she said, “it wasn’t really hard to balance school and cross country most of the time, but on some nights I was up really late doing homework or studying because practice doesn’t end until six.” When asked which meet has been her favorite this season, she said, “my favorite meet was County or Area because it was the same course and I got a PR both times I raced there. It’s also really easy to go cheer my teammates on because the course has a lot of easily accessible areas by the path.”
Laura Vogt, sophomore, said she joined the team because, “I ran in middle school and I wanted to continue to improve.” The advice she would give a beginner in running is that, “running is a physical and mental sport. If you train hard, then you will perform well in races and improve.” These runners are not only teammates because of cross country, they are like a family.
Rachael Beno, sophomore runner, started running because, “I knew that it was sport where you work hard and you get a lot of satisfaction from working hard, and I wanted to get that feeling of satisfaction.” She continues running because, “it lets you think about anything you want and it is totally freeing. When you run you can let all of your emotions go and it’s really good for you.” She said, “cross country and running is really hard because it doesn’t only take physical strength, but it also takes a lot of mental strength. I definitely think that it’s worth the effort though.” Her strength in running is “definitely stamina because before cross country I raced half marathons. Running those half marathons built up my stamina. This is my first year on the cross country team, but I ran 5K’s for soccer before this.”
Bailey DeFoor, sophomore runner, continues running because, “I now feel the need to run . I get home from school and if I haven’t run I usually go run because I love how it feels after a good run and it’s also a good stress reliever.” When asked if she has trouble balancing school and running, she said, “it wasn’t really hard to balance school and cross country most of the time, but on some nights I was up really late doing homework or studying because practice doesn’t end until six.” When asked which meet has been her favorite this season, she said, “my favorite meet was County or Area because it was the same course and I got a PR both times I raced there. It’s also really easy to go cheer my teammates on because the course has a lot of easily accessible areas by the path.”
Laura Vogt, sophomore, said she joined the team because, “I ran in middle school and I wanted to continue to improve.” The advice she would give a beginner in running is that, “running is a physical and mental sport. If you train hard, then you will perform well in races and improve.” These runners are not only teammates because of cross country, they are like a family.